Fly Fishing Team USA – that consortium of aces chosen to represent the red, white and blue in international competition – had a problem.
Schooled chiefly on rivers, the team had taken its lumps when matched against Europeans, who spend much of their time on flat water.
To prepare for the World Fly Fishing Championships, staged in Finland over the past week and which placed equal emphasis on lakes and streams, team leaders did what a growing number of lake enthusiasts regularly do. They put in a call to Phil Rowley.
When a dozen or so team members and coaches gathered at the BootJack Ranch on the West Fork of the San Juan River east of Pagosa Springs, Rowley was on hand to work his stillwater magic. As the operations manager for Edmonton, Alberta-based Superfly International, Rowley has produced three signature books on the subject, countless magazine articles and enough seminars to fill a large stadium.
“He’s the best there is,” said team coach Jack Dennis, who put out the summons to boost the team’s lagging flat-water fortunes. The same information is directly applicable to every lay enthusiast preparing for a long season on Colorado’s lakes and ponds.
Rowley’s foremost advice: Think chironomids.
“Fifty percent of throat pump analysis taken over 15 years were midges, another 20 percent scuds. That’s 70 percent. Good enough for me.”
What follows are excerpts from his clinic for Team USA.
Most of the ingested midges were pupae, less commonly larvae and rarely adults.
Trout eat midges because they’re there. The various midges are the most prolonged hatches of the stillwater season. You put a million peanuts on the table, you’ll eat peanuts.
The go-to pattern is segmented red, with flashy ribbing to imitate trapped gasses used in propulsion to the surface. A red bead adds attraction.
The most important elements in fishing lakes are, in order, depth, retrieve, then fly pattern. The most common mistake is not fishing deep enough or slow enough.
During summer, trout retreat to the depths, typically about 15 feet down, which is where midge larvae live. Midge larvae, generally red and stick-like, emerge from their burrows in the evening.
Midge pupae stage on the bottom four days or more before emerging, so they are a prime target for trout and a good reason to dangle a fly beneath an indicator when the water is shallow enough.
Use an indicator where a flat bottom is less than 12 feet deep when trout are sensitive to depth. Indicators are useful for surgically fishing weedbeds and small pockets, or for inexperienced casters. Most takes occur a foot off the bottom. That’s where lunch is served most of the time.
Measure depth precisely to set the indicator. Something heavy, like hemostats, tied securely to monofilament, will help with the measurement.
Keep the indicator still most of time. Give it an occasional quick pull to attract interest. Pay attention to what the fish want.
Pupae patterns are highly variable, with many combinations. Use curved hooks to mimic the comma-like posture. Tungsten beads work well beneath indicators.
When fish are fussy with lots of pressure, go smaller. The exception is during a dense hatch, when a larger size is useful to attract attention. Play on the greed factor. Offer a steak rather than a potato chip.
During the evening egg-laying, use an adult pattern to create a wake on the surface, with a pupa dropper behind it.
In deeper water, use a floating or slow-sink line and a very long leader, usually 25 percent longer than the water depth. This requires patience. It often takes as much as a couple of minutes for the fly to sink. Use a watch to time it, if needed. With use, the long leader can become a second nature.
The same patience applies to retrieve. Use a painfully slow finger twist, with an occasional quick strip for attention. Keep the line low to the water and straight to the fly. Look for clues far down the fly line. When the line starts to tighten, you have a fish.
Use a loop knot to get more life in the fly. Google “non-slip loop knot” for tying instructions.
Always use a throat pump to find what fish are eating. That way you get up-to-date data. Stomach contents may be yesterday’s news.
